Li Guoying(R), governor of East China's Anhui province, meets with Barry Lewis, leader of British Derbyshire County Council, in the provincial capital Hefei on November 9, 2017.(Photo/Wu Wenbing)

Li Guoying, governor of East China’s Anhui province, signed an agreement with Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council, on Thursday in the provincial capital Hefei, marking that friendship has been established between the province and the British county.

Under the agreement, the two sides, on the basis of the principles of equality and mutual benefit, will cooperate in tourism, business, culture, sci-tech, education, health care, human resources and community affairs, and promote common prosperity and development.

While meeting with Lewis, Li said Anhui attaches great importance to friendly exchanges with Derbyshire, noting that the two sides share similarity in resource as well as natural endowment and enjoy broad space for cooperation. He voiced hope that both sides could conduct extensive and deep cooperation in areas like modern manufacturing, tourist destination development, education and culture.

Lewis spoke highly of the achievements made by Anhui and expressed willingness to foster amicable relations with the province.

As one of the cradles of the Britain Industrial Revolution, Derbyshire has a complete range of industrial system and is known for plane, train and car manufacturing.